Lair

Publisher's Summary

Book Two in Herbert's classic 'rats' series. They've waited long enough. The mutant white rats had grown and mated, creating offspring in its own image. They dominated the others, the dark-furred ones, who foraged for food and brought it back to the lair. Now the dark rats were restless, tormented by a craving they could not satisfy. But the white slug-like thing that ruled them knew. Its two heads weaved to and fro and a stickiness drooled from its mouth as it remembered the taste of human flesh. James Herbert was one of Britain's greatest popular novelists and our #1 best-selling writer of chiller fiction. Widely imitated and hugely influential, he wrote 23 novels which have collectively sold over 54 million copies worldwide and been translated into 34 languages. Born in London in the forties, James Herbert was art director of an advertising agency before turning to writing fiction in 1975. His first novel, The Rats, was an instant bestseller and is now recognised as a classic of popular contemporary fiction. Herbert went on to publish a new top ten best-seller every year until 1988. He wrote six more bestselling novels in the 1990s and three more since: Once, Nobody True and The Secret of Crickley Hall. Herbert died in March 2013 at the age of 69.

Audible Editor Reviews

In his 1974 novel, Rats, British horror master James Herbert inspired millions of nightmares with his vision of a world overrun with mutant rats that begin to consume the people of London. Its sequel, Lair, continues this chilling story. Performed in a sonorous British accent by David Rintoul, Lair finds the rats regrouping in the English countryside. When they strike again, it's up to protagonist and rat catcher Lucas Pender to fight them off. Rintoul's narration picks up in intensity and sharpens in tone during Lair's many action-packed and grisly scenes.

What the Critics Say

"Herbert was by no means literary, but his work had a raw urgency. His best novels, The Rats and The Fog, had the effect of Mike Tyson in his championship days: no finesse, all crude power. Those books were best sellers because many readers (including me) were too horrified to put them down." (Stephen King) "There are few things I would like to do less than lie under a cloudy night sky while someone read aloud the more vivid passages of Moon. In the thriller genre, do recommendations come any higher?" (Andrew Postman, The New York Times Book Review) "Herbert goes out in a blaze of glory" (Daily Mail)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful

LAIR: by James Herbert

This is a fabulous book, well narrated. Full of on your seat edge moments. I highly reckomend this 3 book series. Number 1: the Rats, 2: Lair and 3 Domain. I've actually read these books. Know days due to bad eye sight I enjoy listening to books. Having a real Human voice rather than a computer read it, is totally brilliant. All the correct inflections. I reckomend James Herbert's books, all of them to anyone, who enjoys a bit of fear. It's so sad he's left us. What a great loss. His last book ASH is very good indeed

Erm...no. It was a good listen. However I think it is the lesser book of the trilogy. I might listen to The Rats because David Rintoul was a good narrater, and I suspect he'll deliver with that reading.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

The first book had a better structure more short stories on the rat horror aspect. So more rat killing stories would have improved it for me.

What does David Rintoul bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

He brought drama and generated a real pace to the reading.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

There was graphic sex scenes, which always makes me cringe in books. But the horror was gory😕😟😳😂

Any additional comments?

I thought it worthwhile mentioning how good Herbert is at creating beleivable characters, which is, for me, the key to creating good horror. There was characters I liked and others I didn't, regardless, I felt each one was real. James Herbert was a master character builder, he really was.